Beyond the Christmas card
By Charles Christian
Best-selling Christian author Phillip Yancey wrote that although he loves cards depicting the manger scene, he feels they give us the truest picture of Christmas.
The events leading up to the birth of Jesus were not quiet, serene or even orderly, according to the portrayal in the Gospels. Mary and her husband, Joseph, had to find their way with few resources to an out-of-the-way town, locate lodging and navigate the implications of being young parents in a hostile world. On top of that, according to the Christian understanding of Christmas, they had the unique challenge of giving birth to the one whom we call the “Savior of the World.” To say there was pressure would be an understatement. Yet, the serene images we see on Christmas cards and calendars might fool us into believing that everything was quiet and peaceful.
It reminds me of photos of my brother and me when I was 6 and he was 4. My mother dressed us up in the best clothes we had, complete with clip-on ties and jackets, and took us to a store where the photographer was all set up. Immediately, we made a run for it! We hid with the mannequins in the store window, in the clothing section and even in the changing areas. By the time my mother corralled us, we were a mess, and she was frustrated. However, she straightened us up the best she could, and we paused just long enough for the photographer to snap a few photographs. One of them came out the way my mom hoped.
It was funny, though, through the years to hear people comment on how happy and peaceful we looked in those photos, and how they envied my mom’s ability to produce such “calm and well-behaved boys.” We would get the biggest laugh out of that one, because that day, we were neither calm nor well-behaved. The photo captured just the right moment in the middle of the chaos.
Likewise, the serene artistic renderings of the night Jesus was born to a few brief moments of a “silent night” (to quote a popular Christmas song), surrounded by lots of noise, angst and even moments of chaos.
The beauty of that reality is this: God knows that life is hard. God knows that even our best moments can be surrounded by difficulty. Yet, God brings peace in the middle of all of that, so that His purposes can move forward in our lives and our midst. So, if your Christmas feels a bit chaotic, don’t worry. God understands.
God is there, and He will continue to show up in the middle of it. Along the way, God will even bring peace and perhaps some moments of quiet reflection that may even look good on a Christmas card. Merry Christmas!
